WINDING DOWN
An idiosyncratic look at, and comment on, the week's net and technology news
by Alan Lenton
Greetings from soggy England. We spent last summer complaining about drought. Now we are in the fortunate position to be able to complain about the rain. It seemed appropriate weather for the news that the EU parliament has passed legislation to allow losing bidders for public contracts to object to the bidding process. That should bring the already snails pace of getting anything done to a complete halt!
I was devastated to hear that the Applistas are going to be restricted to only two iPhones when they go on sale. There was much angst about this. So much, in fact that I am forced to conclude that Apple users have more than two ears...
I was hoping to save the Earth this week by going green and only sending the zeros of this newsletter. The ones, of course are much heavier and, as you will know from school physics, you have to use more energy to move them. Sadly, it turned out that this would remove all the merry quips and sallies that you all read this newsletter for, so I was unable to save the planet. I am, however, taking steps to have the noughts and ones painted green for next week's edition.
Shorts:
Nine US citizens have now been convicted of selling US$30 million worth of counterfeit factory management systems software from Rockwell on eBay. Not exactly yoofs hacking Grand Theft Auto 42, though I guess it's certainly grand theft! Those convicted are facing up to five years in the nick, and up to US$250,000 in fines, though they won't know the exact figures until November. Presumably the delay is to allow the judges to retire and drink vintage port for four months while they consider what constitutes a suitable punishment. Oh, and by the way, such a thing couldn't happen here in the UK. After 30 years of opinionated government from both major parties, we have no factories left!
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/06/26/ebay-software_piracy_convictions/
The eBay nine aren't the only dodgy characters to have their collars felt by the law recently. A couple of hard-core porn spammers were convicted by a Federal jury in Phoenix, Arizona on eight counts, including conspiracy, fraud, money laundering and the transportation of obscene materials. (I don't know about you, but to me the last charge conjures up visions of boxcars full of naughty pictures...)
Reading the report, I can't help but wonder whether the fact that they evaded paying tax on the US$2 million they made had something to do with this prosecution - apparently the bounders laundered their ill-gotten gains through the Republic of Mauritius and the Isle of Man to 'further insulate themselves from detection by US law enforcement.' Gad sir, what is the world coming to!
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/06/26/can_spam_convictions/
And now for a green interlude - or not as the case may be. It's becoming clear that here in the UK, companies are not taking greenishness seriously and that around 80 per cent of them have no links between the IT and power budgets. Even more of them - 95 per cent - don't even have a way of measuring the efficiency of their IT systems. It's not really surprising, business is notoriously impervious to moral exhortations that cost money - their primary loyalty is to their shareholders. I wonder what our government will try next...
Meanwhile in the US, IBM are opening a 'green' data centre in Boulder, Colorado. Advantages of the centre, apparently, include virtualization, power management and liquid cooling systems. (As an aside, I've always wondered why it's taken so long for data centre builders to figure out that you can shift heat more efficiently with liquids than with air. Perhaps they've stopped teaching thermodynamics in science at school - after all, it's only a theory.)
Not to be outdone, Dell is promising to plant a tree for each of the first 1,000 attendees at the National Education Computing Conference in Atlanta who sign up for Dell's 'environment best practices' pledge. I was wondering, if I plant a tree in my back yard can I then go on polluting to my heart's content? I'm sure I can afford a bonsai version that will fit.
And talking of carbon footprints and so on, I was fascinated to note that the spooks at the NSA have discovered that there is indeed a limit to the number of supercomputers and the like they can run at the same time. They've recently been trying to use more power than the local utility is able to supply. Oooops! I see from the Baltimore Sun that drastic curbs have been initiated on the air-con and (in winter) the heating of buildings. I guess being a spy isn't such a cushy job as we all thought it was.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/06/25/green_blather/
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/06/25/sweaty_spooks_power_problems/
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/06/25/ibm_green_data_dell_trees/
The nano-people are really starting to get their act together on the publicity front. The latest? Nano soccer! Each year the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is organising the first nanoscale soccer games at the 2007 RoboCup in Atlanta next week. The playing field is only 2.5 millimetres square, the 'players' smaller than an amoeba, and the ball no wider than a human hair. You can only watch the match using a microscope, but if you'd like to see a previous match, the URL has a link to a video of a Swiss nano-footballer scoring goals.
Honey, I shrank the soccer team...
http://www.physorg.com/news102312768.html
Surprise, surprise! A report from Park Associates has found that nearly 40 per cent of My Space users are 'unfaithful' and keep profiles on other social networking sites. The report burbles on about how this creates a fertile environment for new social networking sites and application providers. What it doesn't seem to understand from its own figures is that they show that 'social networking' is much smaller than the aggregate figures for all the sites suggest. Add that to the fact that all the sites have a substantial number of users who registered, tried it, and never came back, and you have a picture of more and more sites chasing a small proportion of Internet users.
'But dahling I looked up your profile on Crusties ReUnited, and it said there you were a 72 year old motorized zimmer frame expert, not a 20 year old stud with sports car!'
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/06/25/social_networking_study/
Do you get infuriated by all the junk that comes pre-installed on your new computer? (No, I'm not referring to Windows!) For some time now Dell have been running a nice little earner - a scheme whereby they charge not to install the crap! Things have now moved on in the new world of caring sharing Dell and they have a new twist. Some Dell computers now come complete with a pre-installed decrapifier program that will remove all (well nearly all) the crap for you. A pre-installed un-pre-installer? I think Dell must have some people with really twisted minds working for them!
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/06/25/dell_cuts_the_fat/
And talking of new computers, did you ever have that feeling that your shiny new computer runs slower than the last one? Well it seems you're right - it is slower. Just take a look at the URL below which compares a 1986 Mac Plus with a spanking new AMD Dual core PC. Would you believe that the Mac won by coming out top in nine of the seventeen tests? And these were all real life tests like using Microsoft Word and Excel for typical work. Don't just take my word for it, take a gander at the URL. Absolutely jaw dropping material.
http://hubpages.com/hub/_86_Mac_Plus_Vs_07_AMD_DualCore_You_Wont_Believe_Who_Wins
Geek Toys
The latest from Korea should be a must for geeks. Most geeks will have read about women (I'm sure there is an RFC available if you missed out on this one), and so will be interested in this new toy from JWin - a bikini top with Bluetooth iPod controls sewn it. Just the job for when swimming with a waterproof iPod, or sunning on the beach while listening to one of the ubiquitous machines. I have to warn you, though, that JWin don't provide women to go into the Bluetooth bikini.
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/06/25/ipod_bikini_arrives/
Scanner: Other stories
Top 10 hyped launches
http://news.com.com/2300-1041_3-6193881-1.html?tag=ne.gall.pg
Microsoft strips Office from charity PC scheme
http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2007/06/22/microsoft_mar_ditches_office/
Jury zaps Lexmark in toner refill case
http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2007/06/25/lexmark_v_static_control_components/
Don't Get Greedy: Only Two iPhones To A Customer
http://update.techweb.com/cgi-bin4/DM/y/eBALX0HiOOq0G4T0FLvh0ET
ICANN goes to the Caribbean
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/06/25/icann_san_juan_2007/
Rejected Bidders can Appeal
http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2007/06/25/ep_public_procurement_directive/
Acknowledgements
Thanks to readers Barb, Fi, DJ and Lois for drawing my attention to material used in this issue. Please send suggestions for material to alan@ibgames.com.
Alan Lenton
alan@ibgames.com
1 July 2007
Alan Lenton is an on-line games designer, programmer and sociologist. His web site is at http://www.ibgames.net/alan.
Past issues of Winding Down can be found at http://www.ibgames.net/alan/winding/index.html
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